Railway refrigerator container



Feb. 27, 1934.

L. M. SHOWERS, JR, ET AL 1,949,381

RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CONTAINER Filed 001:. 10, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS= BY Elmo chammis,

A TTORNEYS.

Feb. 27, 1934. a... M. SHOWERS, JR, El AL 1,949,381

RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CONTAI NER Filed Oct. 10, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 WITNESSES: INVENTORS I 9 Laws M 114101513 J53 W By lisp/ow Cnamhers,

Patented Feb. V, 11934 RAILWAY REFRKGERATOR CQNTAKNER Lewis M. Showers, in, and llsaac M. Chambers, .lluniata, lPa., assignors to The Pennsylvania Railroad (Company, Philadelphia, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 10, 1932. Serial No. 636,980

a @laims.

Our invention relates to railway refrigerator containers, and is especially applicable to containers of a type and size comparable to lessthan-carload-lot shipping containers, such as g used by railroads for the transportation of package freight on fiat cars or other suitable vehicles.

' More particularly the invention relates to a refrigerator container of this character wherein ice is used as the refrigerant medium. While in some m respects the problem of refrigerating a railroad container is similar to the refrigeration of full size cars, there are certain considerations, such as the necessity for conserving adequate space for the lading, the dispositionof the doors with 15 respect to the ice bunker, the drainageof the ice bunker and the limitations imposed by reason of the fact that containers are adapted to be hoisted and shifted from place to place and hence subjected to rough usage, which makes it necesgp sary to depart from the customary arrangement found in refrigerator cars.

Accordingly, the principal object of our inventionis to provide comparatively simple and inexpensive means for refrigerating a railroad con- 25, tainer, satisfying the above considerations, and producing emcient uniform refrigeration of the lading. This end. we accomplish in part by providing passages for the circulation of air from the lading space of the container which cause the 39 air to come in intimate contact with the refrigerant medium.

Other more specific objects and advantages characteristic of our invention will become more fully apparent from the detailed description of as a practical embodiment thereof, which follow hereinafter having reference to the accompanying drawings. Of the drawings:

Fig. 1 represents a plan view of a railway refrigerator container of our invention with a 4o portion thereof shown in horizontal cross-section.

Fig. II represents a vertical cross-section of the same, taken as indicated by the lines II-II of Fig. I. i

Fig. III represents a vertical cross-section of 45 the same, taken as indicated by the lines III-III of Fig. I.

In the drawings there is shown a container which, in its exterior dimensions and form, corresponds closely to merchandise, containers such 60 as are transported on railway cars, trucks or the like, and are generally arranged end to end in a single row, occupying the full platform space of the vehicle. The container is provided with the usual lifting hooks 1 by which it may be connected 55 to a hoist for the purpose of shifting it from car to truck, from car to stationary platform, or vice versa. The container comprises generally an outer :metalcasing 2, an inner shell 3, and an insulating lining 4 therebetween. The outer casing 2 is so made and fitted at the joints as to render it substantially air-tight and sturdy enough to withstand the rough usage to which containers are subjected in service. The base of the container is preferably supported on 9. rectangular framework of channel bars 6 with intermediate longitudinally disposed Z-bars 7.

With reference to the form of container shown in Figs. 1, II and III, there is shown at the top of the container near one end, two filling hatches 8, normally closed by covers 9 and rendered airtight by plugs 10, through which the refrigerant medium may be charged into the container. While the particular form of insulation used for the lining 4 between the outer casing 2 and inner shell 3 may be varied, we prefer to employ a material known commercially as dry zero for the sides, ends and roof of the container, as

well as for the hatch plugs 10, At the base of the'container, as indicated at 11, we prefer to employ celotex or balsa wood. At each side of the container, near that end which is opposite to the filling hatches 8, doors 12 are provided, the doors being carefully fitted and sealed at their edges in the manner of refrigerator doors.

At the charging end of the container, beyond the edges of the doors 12, there is a vertical partition, comprehensively designated at 13, including a bulkhead 14 of relatively thick-insulating material and a metal tray 15 deflected outward and downward from the base of the bulkhead. The bulkhead 14 extends completely across the interior of the container and is spaced from the roof of the container to provide an opening 16 for the circulation of air. Beneath the filling hatches 8 there is an ice basket 17 comprising a 5 vertical screen 18 and a horizontalv bottom screen 1%. Portions of the inner shell 3 of the container serve as the rear end and top of the ice basket 1'7.

The bottom screen 19 of the ice basket rests upon a series of bars 20 which are in turn supported at their outer ends upon the top flange of a channel beam 21 and at their inner ends upon the bottom flange of a channel beam 22. The bars 20 are so fitted in place as to facilitate easy removal and replacement. Likewise the front screen 18 and the bottom screen 19 of the ice basket and the partition 13 are preferably made and fitted in such manner as to be readily removable. Attached to the channel beam 21 there is a deflector plate 23 extending inward and downward and terminating in a short upturned flange which forms a trough 24 at its inner edge. Drippings from the outer portion of the ice basket 17 are collected in the trough 24 of the deflector plate 23 and from there caused to fall to a similarly shaped trough 25 at the outer edge of the subjacent tray 15 which serves as a drip pan. All of the metal parts associated with the ice basket are preferably made of stainless steel to prevent rusting.

' The partition 13 forms with the front screen 18 of the ice basket 17 ayertical air circulating passage 26 leading from the intake opening 16 downward along the front of the ice basket to the bottom of the same. The outwardly inclined tray 15 forms with the bottom screen 19 of the ice basket 17 a passage 2'7 leading downward and outwardly to the end wall of the container. Leading downward from the trough 25 of the tray 15 at each end thereof there are drains 28, which include traps 29 wherein dirt or other foreign matter is collected. The drains 28 ultimately terminate in overflow pipes 30 which lead to openings 31 in the sides of the container. The openings 31 are disposed at' such a position that when the container is mounted on a railway flat car water will be drained over the side edges of the platform of the car.

At the end of the container beneath the ice basket 17 there is provided an extension of the partition 13 in the form of a vertical rack 32. The rack 32 comprises a number of slats 33 joined together at right angles to produce a latticework effect. At the base of the container there is a horizontal rack 34 formed in a similar manner of a series of slats 35.

In operation, the air circulation within the container illustrated in Figs. I, II and III is as follows: Relatively warm air surrounding the lading and rising to the top of the container passes through the intake opening 16 above the partition 13 and enters the vertical air passage 26 at the front of the ice basket 17. The ice basket 1'7 being constructed of screening, passage of air around the blocks of ice is unobstructed, and there is free circulation around and through the ice basket. Air circulating through the ice basket and downward in the passage 26 enters the passage 27 formed at the bottom of the ice basket between the tray 15 and the screen 19. At this point the air is exposed to the bottom surface of the ice and also to the water resulting from the melting of the ice incident to its drainage from the container. Thus the air circulating around the ice basket 17 comes into intimate contact with the refrigerant medium and is efllciently cooled. From the passage 27 the cooled air flows downwardly through the passage 36 between the vertical rack 32 and the inner shell 3 of the container. Some of the air will find its way through the interstices of the rack 32 toward the lading space of the container. An additional current of air will be led to the floor of the container beneath the bottom rack 34 and will find its way upwardly through the interstices of the rack. The circulation thus described is clearly indicated in Fig. II by the arrows there shown.

As shown in the drawings, all of the parts of the refrigerating compartment are fitted in such a way that they can be readily removed for purposes of replacement by new parts or for the purpose of adapting the container to a different use.

While we have shown and described a particular example of our invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the parts of the container without departing from the spirit of our invention as defined in the claims hereto annexed.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a metal-lined refrigerator-enclosure, a screen element defining with portions of the in.- ner lining a rectangular ice basket extending downwardly from the top of said enclosure to a distance above the floor, a bulkhead extending across the enclosure in front of the ice basket and spaced from the top of the enclosure, said bulkhead being inwardly sheathed with metal to provide an outward and downwardly-deflected tray below the bottom of the ice basket terminating in a drain trough, in combination with a subjacent perforate means extending upwardly from the enclosure floor into proximate relation with the deflected tray and effective to diffuse cooled air across the enclosure lading space.

2. In a metal lined refrigerator container, 2. screen element defining with portions of the inner lining a rectangular ice basket extending downwardly from the top of said container to a distance above the floor, a thermo-insulate bulkhead extending across the container in front of the ice basket to define a circulatory passage and spaced from the top of the container, said bulkhead being-inwardly sheathed with metal to provide an outward and downwardly-deflected tray below the bottom of the ice basket terminating in a drain trough, and a reversely-directed deflector plate below the ice basket terminating with an upturned troughing flange to deflect drippings from the outer portion of the ice basket onto the tray aforesaid, in'combination with a subjacent perforated rack extending upwardly from the enclosure floor into proximate relation with the deflected tray and effective to diffuse cooled air transversely of the enclosure lading space.

3. In a metal lined. refrigerator container a screen element defining with portions of the inner lining a rectangular ice basket extending downwardly from the top of said container to a distance above the floor, said basket being sustainedby a series of bars supported on the top flange and the lower inner flange surfaces of oppositely directed channel beams extending across the container, a thermo-insulate bulkhead across the container in front of the ice basket and spaced from the top of the container, said bulkhead being inwardly sheathed with metal to provide an outward and downwardly-deflected tray below thebottom of the ice basket terminating in a drain trough, and a reversely-directed dcflector plate below the ice basket but above the tray terminating with an upturned .troughing flange to deflect drippings from the outer portion of the ice basket onto said tray, in combination with a subjacent lattice-work rack extending upwardly from the enclosure floor into proximate relation with the deflected tray and effective to diffuse cooled air horizontally across the enclosure lading space.

LEWIS M. SHOWERS, JR. ISAAC 'M. CHAMBERS. 

